SAN DIEGO DISTRICT’S PINK SLIPS DELAYED 10 DAYS

San Diego 
The San Diego school district’s deadline to authorize or rescind nearly 1,700 teacher pink slips has been extended 10 days to May 25, giving the district a rare opportunity to analyze the governor’s latest budget proposal — due midmonth — before making personnel cuts.

However, the San Diego Unified School District is bracing for more bad news from the state budget revision, and is poised to formally lay off roughly one in five of its teachers effective June 30.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s “May revise” is expected to offer a California budget that is even worse than the preliminary spending plan released in January.

“We don’t expect any improvement in the funding situation to come from the May revise,” said district Chief of Staff Bernie Rhinerson.

The school board issued 1,666 pink slips to teachers in March — including 20 percent of the elementary teaching force — to cope with the state’s fiscal crisis and help offset a deficit of up to $122 million in next year’s $1.1 billion operating budget.

The state’s May 15 deadline to authorize or cancel the pink slips was delayed for San Diego Unified by an administrative law judge who has yet to decide whether the district can exempt about 120 teachers from the seniority-based pink slips.

The district wants to give job protection to teachers who work at specialty schools, including those with an International Baccalaureate and foreign language curriculum, to protect the integrity of the programs.

Last month, hundreds of teachers attended three-day hearings to contest their layoff notices before an administrative law judge. The judge recommended that 22 of the pink slips were issued in error and should be rescinded by the school board.

A fourth hearing will be held on Wednesday. That’s when the district is expected to make its final case to exempt 123 specialty teachers from the pink slips.

Bill Freeman, who represents some 7,000 teachers as president of the San Diego Education Association, objects to the exemptions. He believes no teacher is expendable and that all pink slips should be rescinded.

Superintendent Bill Kowba expects the school board to adopt a final budget in June that includes the majority of teacher layoffs sent in March. He alerted employees last week in a memo that as many as 1,400 teachers “will be released effective June 30.”

The district has called on its unions to accept concessions to save jobs by extending furloughs for a third year, forgoing pay raises and accepting changes to health benefits.

“We will remain open to discussions with our employee groups about this process and any possible alternatives,” Kowba told employees in his May 1 memo.

Maureen Magee • U-T

CSU San Marcos will have most graduates in its history

California State University San Marcos will issue degrees to the largest number of graduates in school history in four ceremonies May 18-19.

More than 2,600 undergraduate and graduate students are expected to receive their diplomas over the weekend in the university’s 21st commencement exercise.

Each of the events will be held on the Mangrum Track and Field at CSUSM. A total of nearly 18,000 guests are expected to attend the four ceremonies, each of which will last about two hours.